About Aska

Abandoned & industrial photography

Stockholm Sweden

Info

Get in touch

Välkommen!

Aska is the (slowly) growing collection of photographs from abandoned, quaint or interesting locations by me, Björn Sahlberg. The homebase is in Stockholm, Sweden.

So, why seek these places and spend days photographing them? A very early inspiration was the book Journal of a Ghost Hunter by Simon Marsden that I received for Christmas in 1994. Up until then my view on photography in general was something of a substitute for “real” art like painting or drawing (can you imagine!) but that book had me thinking differently. Then there was also the environments of fantasy literature, comic books, Warhammer games and movies like Bladerunner which all had a strong appeal to me. Still it took a few years before I picked up my dad's old Minolta to use it on my very first explore on, The Mighty Abandoned Cottage of Stäksön in Kallhäll outside of Stockholm. The rest is history.

Get in touch or follow

bjorn@aska.nu (I'm pretty good at replying)

altergraff.tumblr.com (graffiti oriented)

twitter.com/explorerbjorn (retweets, mostly)

instagram.com/explorerbjorn (on ice)

Copyright

I'm a big fan of “fair use” so for any non-commercial means you may blog, post or link to any of these photos. But please link back to the source and/or add proper credit. If you wish to use any of these works commercially please get in touch.

Friends of the abandoned

Galleri Mellanrum – Small in size, large at heart.

John Eklunds elektriska museum – The Västerås ångkraftverk master, and more.

Kathy's daily – Infrastructural goodies and urbanscapes at rest (and at its best).

Modern Swedish Ruins – Explorer buddy since way back.

Maria's Flickr – Among Sweden's best ruin photographers!

Pavel Matveyev's website – Comrade Pavel's personal abandonments.

Pfitzer pfotograpfy – All film, all talent. And a very good Internetz-friend!

The Work of Castor – Moody rural exploration on stills and video.

Yann's Flickr – Analog abandonments with a French grace.

Featured

Some of my photos made it elsewhere!

The First Two Decades – An anniversary exhibition

As Aska turned twenty years young it made for a good excuse to celebrate and to exhibit a selection of photos from the – yes you guessed it – the first two decades. Again it's my friends Mats' gallery that will have to put up with not only a number photos on his walls, but also another wall paper.

Galleri Mellanrum, Stockholm. December 2019 – January 2020.

ASKA.nu – The First Two Decades

Ångsågen meets Golden Tiger.

Ångsågen meets Golden Tiger

A trade deal with multi-artist Anna-Karin Svedjestrand resulted in a tiger moving in with me and a kitchen wall that will never look quite the same again.

June 2019 and on.

Ångsågen meets Golden Tiger

Arenastaden photo wall at Fabege's Stockholm office.

Arenastaden at Fabege.
© Fabege 2019

Arenastaden at Fabege

Thanks to Innan arenan, efter Råsunda the developer and owner of Arenastaden Fabege discovered my photos from its previous life. As they lacked documentation of the area before the transformation I was approached and a deal was made. They're not as picky with consistent framing and cropping à la true-to-the-original-format as yours truly though ...

Fabege's Stockholm office. From January 2019 and on.

Arenastaden at Fabege

Ångsågen meets Galleri Mellanrum.

Ångsågen meets Galleri Mellanrum

One of the photos from Ångsågen was put on wallpaper and became a (permanent?) part of the gallery's two year anniversary exhibition.

Galleri Mellanrum, Stockholm. December 2018 – January 2019.

Ångsågen meets Galleri Mellanrum

My part of the “Innan arenan, efter Råsunda” exhibition at the Solna public library in Stockholm.
Spring 2013.

Innan arenan, efter Råsunda

An exhibition with my photos from an old industrial zone the years before it was turned into one of Stockholm's largest arenas. Most of the featured photos can be seen in the album Arenastaden / Solna Badlands.

Solna public library, Stockholm. Spring 2013.

Innan arenan, efter Råsunda

“These Abandoned Power Stations Are Majestic in Their Decay” on IO9. View on IO9
April 2013.

“These Abandoned Power Stations Are Majestic in Their Decay” on IO9

One of my Flickr photos was chosen for this impressive cavalcade of old power stations.

April 2013.

View on IO9

And yes, also part of the Industrial Decay Network's second book. More info on Blurb.
November 2009.

IDN 02

And yes, also part of the Industrial Decay Network's second book.

November 2009.

IDN 02 on Blurb

Featured in Industrial Decay Network's first book! More info on Blurb.
October 2008.

IDN 01

Featured in Industrial Decay Network's first book.

October 2008.

IDN 01 on Blurb

A few of my pics from the Västerås ångkraftverk in an article on urbex in Appeal magazine. Not too pleased with the cropping though.
Spring 2008.

Appeal Magazine

A few of my pics from the Västerås ångkraftverk in an article on urbex in Appeal magazine. Not too pleased with the cropping though.

Spring 2008.

Trading prints?

Are you a fellow explorer of the abandoned, into intriguing infrastructure or collecting quirky surroundings with whatever gear? Then how about trading prints? I have traded with online friends a few times and it's great fun! Also more tasteful to keep others' prints on the wall rather than your own, right. Ok then, just get in touch.

Tools & tech

What's squeking underneath Aska's rusty hood.

Light measuring on location at Steelmill 1. I no longer use the angular viewfinder. Photo © Yann.

Through the viewfinder at the Kakefabriken.

Hassy with the 50 mm on location at Kakelfabriken.

Hasselblad 500c/m

Main comrade these days. Usually fitted with a 50 or 80 mm lens.

Just your local explorer together with an old friend. Photo © Yann.

Through the Flexaret V viewfinder at your average Schwedenrot location.

Meopta Flexaret V

A late 50s beater twin lens reflex from the Czech Republic. Works perfectly, almost always. A growing love that I've been using more and more over the last years.

“Lil Crispy Hazy”

On location when the Bromma Business Centre is flattended. With the Horseman 980 on a tripod one looks serious business enough and the demolition crew didn't send me off the grounds.

Framing and composing is an adventure with the viewfinder image being both mirrored and upside down.

Topcon Horseman 980

I came across this nice Horseman kit at the Kamerloppis camera flea market in spring 2016. The combination of tilt-shift, medium format and a cool retro tech look made it an easy choice. Yes, it's tricky to use. Yes, it's slow to use. And yes, it's great fun to use!

Snapping away at the (now demolished) Tollare paper mill.

Nikon D300 & D70

Old workhorses before the days of analog. Today I mostly use the D300 for light measuring on tricky locations.

HomeSite+, the barebone editor to end all editors. Or? ...

HomeSite+ & Notepad++

Recent input: eventually I had to succumb to HomeSite's age and have for most everything shifted to Notepad++. It's an excellent editor but I miss the powerful Extended Replace from HomeSite.

Old input: [HomeSite is] quite possibly the best barebone HTML editor, ever. Despite not being upgraded since 2003 it still rocks in so many ways. You're more than free to convince me of a newer one (I've tried many) as I realise that its days are counted.